


Do you have a minute?

by orphan_account



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Ex-boyfriend Luke, F/M, Fake dating that leads to something more, Hurt Annabeth, Past Relationship(s), Percy's concerned about Annabeth, Protective Percy, Trauma, idk how to tag, past trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:42:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24023791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: “Do you have a minute?” the stranger asks me, taking off their sunglasses, and holy crap,she’s gorgeous. Her blond hair is spilling across her shoulders, and her grey eyes are bright in contrast to her tan skin. The only thing is that her eyebrows are knit together in clear worry.“Well?” She glares at me. “Are you going to keep gaping at me?”I clear my throat. “Uh, yeah. What do you need?”“This is going to sound so damn weird-,”I interrupt her. “I can do weird,” I say, flashing a grin.She laughs, and it makes my heart skip a beat. “Okay, but can you pretend to be my boyfriend for about an hour?"...basically a fake dating AU
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Past Annabeth Chase/Luke Castellan
Comments: 2
Kudos: 62





	Do you have a minute?

**Author's Note:**

> Uh...hi? This is my first published fanfic, so bear with me plz :P  
> If there are any errors with spelling/grammar, or my version doesn't really add up, please let me know, and I'll fix it.  
> Rated teen for language.

“Do you have a minute?” the stranger asks me, taking off their sunglasses, and holy crap, _she’s gorgeous. _Her blond hair is spilling across her shoulders, and her grey eyes are bright in contrast to her tan skin. The only thing is that her eyebrows are knit together in clear worry.__

____

__

“Well?” She glares at me. “Are you going to keep gaping at me?”

I clear my throat. “Uh, yeah. What do you need?”

“This is going to sound so damn weird-,”

I interrupt her. “I can do weird,” I say, flashing a grin.

She laughs, and it makes my heart skip a beat. “Okay, but can you pretend to be my boyfriend for about an hour?”

“Wait, what?” I ask, confused. “Start from the beginning. Who are you?”

She frowns again. “Don’t I… I guess not. I’m Annabeth.”

“Last name?” I prod.

“Not for now,” she replies.

I shrug. “I’m Percy. No last name yet, either, I guess.” 

“Percy.” Annabeth cocks her head as if she was deep in thought. 

Then, her phone rings, cutting through the air like a knife. Annabeth picks it up and answers. “Hello?” she says.

I can hear a male, loud, angry voice on the other end. He sounds like he’s shouting at Annabeth.

“Yeah… no! No! It’s fine, you don’t have to come here-” The phone makes a dialing noise, and on her screen, it says: Call ended.

“Sh*t,” she curses. “He’s coming. Okay, it’s fine… Sh*ttttt.” She throws her phone in her purse and buries her face in her hands. 

“Annabeth, what happened?” I ask, concerned.

She lifts her head and looks at me. “So, I had this ex-boyfriend, and he… wasn’t a very good boyfriend, so I broke up with him, but he wants us to get back together, so can you please pretend you’re my boyfriend?” Annabeth blurts out.

“Okay? I guess I can.” I had no clue why I said I would, but I wanted to help her, even if she was a stranger. 

“Thank you so much. I’m serious, you don’t know how much this means to me! Okay, have you ever had a girlfriend?” Annabeth asks, then furrows her brow. “Or a boyfriend.”

“I’ve had a girlfriend,” I reply. “But we broke up a while ago. We’re still friends, though.”

“Well… okay. Treat me like you treated her,” Annabeth says.

Before I can respond, her phone rings again. She clicks the speaker button and answers. “Where are you? I’m at Central Park’s entryway,” the same male voice from before says.

Now that I can hear it, the voice sounds… _familiar. ___

____

____

“I’m at the bench at Sheep Meadow,” Annabeth directs. 

“I’ll be there in 10,” he growls and hangs up.

“Okay. So… just wrap your arm around me and pretend we’re talking,” she tells me.

I nod and wrap my arm around her. She leans into my chest. “So, we should talk?” I ask. She nods. “So, how old are you?”

“I’m 15,” she responds. 

“Me too. Do you do any sports?”

“I play volleyball,” she replies. “You?”

I answer, “I’m on the swimming team.”

Her brow furrows again. Annabeth lifts her head and looks into the distance. “He’s coming.”

I look up to see a man with tan skin, blond hair, and a startling scar running over his eye. As soon as I see him, I recognize him. 

“Luke Castellan? He’s your boyfriend? Wait a minute. You’re Annabeth Chase. You go to my school!” I say, glaring at her.

“Yes, you freaking seaweed brain!” she snaps. 

“That’s it. I’m not doing this.” I start to get up.

“Percy, please!”

I sigh and sit back down. “Fine. But you owe me answers after this.”

By then, Luke was about 10 feet away from us. “What the hell, Annabeth? We broke up a day ago, and you’ve already moved on?” And then he calls her some names that I refuse to repeat.

“Don’t talk about her like that!” I stand up and glare at him.

“Oh, shut up, Jackson. Don’t make me kick your @ss again.”

Annabeth mouths, _again? _at me. I ignore her.__

____

____

“I’m serious, Luke. Leave her alone.”

He steps closer to me. “Stay out of this, Jackson.” He lifts his fist.

“You have to stop this!” Annabeth shouts and shoves him. 

"Don't push me, Annabeth. You know what happens then." He lifts his hand, and Annabeth flinches. _He’s not…_

____

____

I can barely see as I lunge forwards. I’m about to punch him, but Annabeth yanks me back. “Don’t tell me you’re on his side!” I yell.

“I’m not, Percy.” Her voice is soft. “He’s not worth it.”

I lower my voice. “That @ss has been-”

“I know,” she interrupts. “It’s fine. I’m fine.” 

I want to argue, but I sigh, and shake my head. “Fine. Back off, Luke.” 

He glares at me. “Like hell, I will.”

I step closer to him so we’re only a few inches away from each other. “Back. Off,” I repeat. Luke sighs.

“Come on, Annie. I said I was sorry. I really am! Please, just give me another chance. You can’t deny what we had wasn’t real. I love you.” When she doesn’t reply, he glares at her. “Annabeth, you can’t possibly be breaking up with me. I was your first everything. You’re nothing without me. Your popularity, your friends, they wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for me.”

“Luke,” she says. “You cheated on me with my best friend. I did nothing wrong.”

He snarls. “Yeah, and I said I was sorry. What more do you want? You want a written apology too?!”

“Leave, Luke,” Annabeth whispers, a tear slipping down her cheek.

He laughs maniacally. “I see what this is about. You just want Jackson, don’t you? You wouldn’t believe half of the things about him-”

He’s interrupted by a loud SLAP! Annabeth’s eyes are wide with anger. “DON’T BRING PERCY INTO THIS!” she screams as she lowers her hand. “Get the hell away from us, and don’t even think about talking to me again.”

Luke scoffs and turns around. “Fine. I never loved you anyway.”

I watch his retreating figure until I’m sure he’s gone. “Are you okay?” I ask her, and realize it’s a stupid question. She’s sitting on the bench, crying. I sit down next to her.  
“H-hey. It’ll be okay.” I give her a one-armed hug. She leans into me and continues sobbing. I grab a tissue from my pocket and give it to her. “We must look really weird to passersby,” I joke.

Annabeth laughs and sniffs. “Screw them,” she says, and hiccups. “Thank you, Percy. You have no idea how long I’ve wanted him to be gone.” I nod. “I’ll see you at school?”

“No.”

“What do you mean, no?” she asks.

“I’m not leaving you here!” I protest. “What if he comes back? Besides, I think you need someone with you now.”

She sighs. “Are you always this stubborn?” she says, wiping her face with part of her t-shirt.

“I prefer the term loyal.” I take off my jacket and hand it to her. “You look cold.”

“Thanks,” she mumbles. 

I get up and offer her my hand. “Come with me?” I ask.

“Okay.” She takes my help getting up and brushes the dust off of her jeans. 

We walk to a restaurant that’s a few blocks away. My hand kept brushing against hers, and when I looked at her, she was blushing. The next time it happens, I take her hand in mine and lace our fingers together.

When we get to the restaurant, we sit down and order. Annabeth orders a panini and sparkling water.

“Can I have pizza and a blue- I mean coke?” I ask. The waiter nods and leaves.

“Blue?” Annabeth laughs.

“My mom and I, to say the least, like blue things,” I explain.

“Ah.” Her eyes are sparkling with amusement.

“Kinda late for lunch, don’t you think?” Annabeth asks as our food comes.

“Don’t you know that three in the afternoon is the best time to have lunch?” I smirk. She snorts.

“So, you go to Olympus high school, right?” she asks.

“Yeah,” I say. “You’re in the sophomore year?” She nods. “Same. If you don’t mind me asking, how’d you even meet Luke?” Annabeth tenses as I say his name. “Sh*t. I’m sorry, Annabeth. You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t feel comfortable with.”

“No, it’s fine. You deserve answers.” Annabeth lets out a sigh. “I ran away from home when I was little, and met someone, you probably know her, her name’s Thalia, who introduced me to Luke.” 

“I know Thalia!” I exclaim. “We’re cousins. I also know her little brother, Jason.”

She nods. “Yeah, I think she told me you were cousins. Anyway, they took care of me until I went back home. But, a few years ago, you probably know this, Thalia disappeared. I started to notice Luke… changing. He became really overprotective of me, and I thought it was normal. I even liked it, you know? I thought it was kinda…” her voice trails off. “Cute, I guess. And about a year ago, he asked me out, and I said yes.” I nod, understanding. “And everything was okay, for about half a year. I kept hearing rumors that he was cheating, but I chose not to believe them, until… I went to this party, where I saw him-” She inhales. 

“You don’t have to tell me!” I hurriedly say. 

Annabeth shakes her head. “It’s fine. I saw him making out with my best friend, Drew. You probably know her?” I nod. “Yeah, so I left, and the next day broke up with him.”

“Yesterday?” I ask.

She replies, “Yeah. And he just laughed and left, but when I didn’t call him, or anything, he got really mad, and kept begging me to get back together.”

“Oh.”

“When did you meet Luke? I mean, you probably know him, cause he said ‘again,”’ she asks.

I clear my throat. “Well, I went to this camp, a while ago, and he was like my first friend there. But like you said, he kinda changed, and one day stopped talking to me. We do these ‘fight’ kinda things at camp, and we used to fight in a friendly way. A bit after he stopped talking to me, he challenged me to fight. I thought he wanted to be friends again, but he almost killed me. After that, I never saw him at camp again. When I saw him at school, I just ignored him.”

Annabeth inhales. “I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be.” I try to smile. “You had to go through so much worse than me.”

“I- yeah.”

“It’s getting kinda late, do you want to head back?” I say as I look at the clock. "I can walk you to your apartment, if you want."

“Sure,” she nods. We pay and leave. Annabeth directs me to her apartment. "So this is where we part. I'll see you in school, Percy." She kisses me on the cheek as I turn red.

It wasn't much, but it was a start.

**Author's Note:**

> edit 6/29  
> me looking back at this: dear god wtf did i write this sucks holy shi-  
> thanks for reading tho! :D


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